By Becky Walz,

Letter winners leading the Warrior boys track and field team this season will be (front, l-r) Brad Dahl, Brady Ohrt, Lukas Weiss, Landen Schnuelle, Brennan Franzen; (back) Abe Conway, Parker Timp, Kaden Barton-Franzen, Brody Tieskoetter and Chandler Riehle. (Driftless Multimedia photo by Becky Walz)
While the South Winn boys’ track and field team may not have the depth it has had in the past, it does have a core group of seniors who have been part of the program since freshmen year. Combine them with those leaders who are multi-sport athletes and the Warriors are certain to score points in numerous events this season.
“We are going to have to pick and choose how to best use our athletes to maximize points at the end of the year. Injuries could really limit what we can do,” said Head Coach Scott Conway who is entering his 22nd season at the helm.
Joining Conway along the track will be assistants Ethan Adams, Darcy Einck and Ed Wadsworth.
Success in 2023
Nine letter winners led the way throughout the 2023 season that saw some highs and lows that culminated with a third place finish as a team at the Upper Iowa Conference meet in Guttenberg in early May.
A week following the conference, the Warriors qualified just two events for the state meet — both hurdle events. Kaden Bullerman was the runner-up at the state-qualifier in the 400-meter hurdles and managed to get into the state field on time. He was also a member of the second-place shuttle hurdle relay which qualified on time with teammates Lukas Weiss, Parker Timp and Keagen Streeter.
On the blue oval, the shuttle hurdle quartet posted a season-best time of 1:04.30, finishing 15th in the prelims, while Bullerman wrapped up his career in the 400-meter hurdles with a 22nd place finish in 59.35 seconds.
Graduating after the season were Kaden Bullerman, Keagen Streeter, Hunter Wagner, Kyle Hageman, Omar Flores, Nathan Davis and Carlos Macario.
A new year
“In the first few weeks of practice these guys have been working hard and are a fun group of people to be around,” said Coach Conway. “It will take a little while for us to figure out where some of these guys can help us the most. Just watching these guys in their other sports this year, I know we will get better throughout the year and they will be competitors.”
At the top of the veteran skipper’s list is the 10 returning letter winners including Weiss and Timp who competed at state last year. Seniors back with a letter include Abe Conway, Brady Ohrt, Chandler Riehle, and Brody Tieskoetter, along with juniors Kaden Barton-Franzen and Brennan Franzen and sophomores Brad Dahl and Landen Schnuelle. Other top returnees according to Coach Conway are Casey Bohr, Tristan Bodensteiner, Irving Flores, Kyle Kuboushek and Eric Greve.
Rounding out the roster will be juniors Shayde Wermers and Szymon Kalinwoski, Yahir Macario; sophomore Ray Lienau; and freshmen Cody Bodensteiner, Tyler Fels, Gavin Feickert and Landon Livingood.
“A few things that have stood out about this group is that they are willing to put themselves out there and try new things. They aren’t afraid to take risks, be uncomfortable and maybe not have things turn out the way they wanted,” noted Coach Conway. Those are the kinds of competitors a program needs to make improvements and develop throughout the season as well as throughout their careers.”
As for his picks in the Upper Iowa Conference, Coach Conway believes his Warriors will land in the top five with North Fayette Valley and MFL MarMac leading the way.
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